Skip to main content

tv   The Last Word  MSNBC  April 23, 2013 10:00pm-11:00pm PDT

10:00 pm
ever cared. that's the best new thing in the world today. there is a link to the fake letter and a video from the whole prank from animal new york at animal.com right now. tonight the boston marathon bombing suspect continues to tell his story, but his mother is telling a very different story. >> police have learned of a possible motive in the boston marathon bombing. >> why did they do it? we are learning about a motive. >> dzhokhar reportedly told investigators that he and his brother acted alone. >> the attack was fueled by religious fervor. >> dzhokhar was read his miranda rights in a brief bedside session. >> he nodded most of his answers. >> nodded four times to questions but spoke just one word. >> when asked if he could afford a lawyer, he spoke the word no. >> the house today will get a classified briefing.
10:01 pm
a senate committee will question the fbi. >> the fbi faces questions. >> there are limits on what can be done. >> there are ways in which you could further enable the fbi. >> these are all issues that are going to be developed. >> i want to get a sequester very quickly in here. >> a series of automatic, severe budget cuts. >> across the board sequester cuts. >> what does it mean for the overall debate? >> fbi agents will be furloughed. changes like this affect our ability to respond to threats. >> this is a result of the sequester. >> these cuts are not smart, they are not fair. >> this touches, you know, almost every big issue going on in washington now. >> president obama's early second term domestic agenda. gun control, the budget and reform. president obama is inviting the senators over for dinner tonight. >> all the women senators over for dinner. >> if you want to create a bipartisan agenda. >> no sign of progress anywhere. >> a great place to start is with the women senators.
10:02 pm
in the boston bombing investigation, nbc news has learned that the fbi is increasingly confident, their words, increasingly confident that the two suspects acted alone. nbc's pete williams reported that dzhokhar tsarnaev has told investigators that he and his brother were motivated by religious fervor and their reaction to the american invasion of iraq and afghanistan. the suspect's condition was upgraded from serious to fair today, according to the u.s. attorney's office in boston. as you know, he was found bleeding in a boat in a driveway in watertown just outside boston. the man who discovered him in that boat, david hanaberry spoke with msnbc today. >> i know i took three steps up the ladder. i don't remember stepping down off the ladder.
10:03 pm
i think i just -- this hits you more afterwards and you think, my god. we probably slept last night. this guy could be -- i don't know, it's surreal. >> the suspect's two sisters, a lena and bella tsarnaev released this statement today that did not include one word of defense of their brothers. our hearts go out to the victims of last week's bombing. it sad dens us to see so many innocent people hurt after such a callous act. as a family we are absolutely devastated by the sense of loss and sorrow this has caused. we don't have any answers, but we look forward to a thorough investigation and hope to learn more. we ask the media to respect our privacy during this difficult time. but their mother continues to refuse to believe that her sons could have done anything wrong. nbc's british partner itn spoke with the suspects' mother by phone. >> i'm sure my two boys are not
10:04 pm
responsible for this. >> reporter: you think they were there just as spectators, as innocent spectators? >> of course. well, last year they went, too. >> the suspects' mother then told cnn their protector is god, who is allah, the only one allah. if they're going to kill him, i don't care. i don't care if my youngest one is going to be killed today. i want the world to hear this, and i don't care if i am going to get killed, too, okay? and i will say allah akbah. that's what i'm going to say. the older brother bought two pyrotechnics at the company's seabrook new hampshire store. each kit contains a tube and 24 shells.
10:05 pm
tsarnaev paid $194 cash for the kits. michael isakov reports that a preliminary look at the cell phones and computers used by the tsarnaev brothers has found no indication yet of any accomplices. investigators say they are now trying to determine whether the older brother obtained money from family members, friends or other sources. a spokesman for the mosque the brothers attended in cambridge tells nbc news fbi agents have been questioning members and that the mosque has provided the names of at least three members who saw tamerlan disrupt services at the mosque. the most recent was on martin luther king day. he called a speaker a non-believer and a hypocrite because he compared martin luther king to the prophet mohamed. leaders of the congregation told him he should not come back if he was going to disrupt services. he did return in the last month but didn't cause any more
10:06 pm
problems. joining me now is terrorist analyst michael lighter, former director of the national counterterrorism center under presidents bush ask obama and msnbc's joy reid. michael, what do you make of the totality of the incident as it exists tonight? >> it is quite clear the fbi is developing an credibly strong case here. although we can't say for sure yet, it's almost certain that the older brother was the first who was radicalized, inspired by the same messages that has inspired other home-grown extremists and followers of al qaeda. an extremist suni islamic idealogy which is a warping of the muslim faith and drove them ultimately to view themselves being at war with the united states and thus targeting innocent civilians. >> joy reed, i want to get your
10:07 pm
reaction to everything that's unfolded so far. >> i think the mother's reaction is incredible, but she wasn't necessarily the person directly parenting these young men. she was in another country, and so the influence of the suspect who is still alive was really his brother who seems to be the first to be radicalized. it is pretty frightening. we tend to want this to be sort of a terrorist cell, some bigger conspiracy, something a lot less frightening than just two otherwise average young men living in the community, raised in the community and then becoming radicalized just of their own volition and deciding to do something so horrific really in their own community. it's actually, in a lot of ways, more disturbing. >> michael, what do you make of the difference in the reactions from their sisters and their mother? their sisters' statement very clearly, they're not making any kind of defensive comment about
10:08 pm
their brothers. they seem to be watching what's developed in television news and accepting kind of the obvious facts of the case so far. >> lawrence, i would say it is true that the sisters are probably closer to this than the mother who is overseas, and the father who is overseas. i have to admit that i have a bit of sympathy -- i had a lot of sympathy for the entire family. and, you know, any mother or father who is faced with this, i don't really think that these are especially useful witnesses as to what their child did or did not do and why they did or did not do it. when i think you're talking about so much grief and confusion that, again, these are not the witnesses to whom i would turn for factual evidence in a case. >> joy, the fireworks stuff, this stuff is legal in new hampshire, it's illegal in massachusetts. it's very common there. you drive up over the new hampshire border, you grab this stuff, and you bring it back. and the question is, is this
10:09 pm
where they got the totality of the gunpowder that they used for this bomb making? but the different state laws making different things easier to obtain here than there are part of what this story is about. >> yeah, and the difficulty of tracking. you know, you talked on the show about the tagging issue and not being able necessarily to trace where gunpowder comes from and just the mundane items they were able to put together, apparently, just by going on line and figuring out how to make such deadly destructive weapons. they didn't have to obtain sophisticated equipment. a lot of this was stuff relatively easy to obtain. i think that's another issue we have to look at. but as you said, we have disparate state laws. each state makes its own laws. >> michael, just the probabilities involved. based on everything you've seen, the devices they've used, the
10:10 pm
story that we learned how to do this on the internet. we were kind of inspired by some of these web sites we've gone to with extremist, islamic clerics who are on them and that stuff. is there anything you've heard developed from the suspect where you say, oh, no, that doesn't sound possible? >> this is actually a fairly typical story of home-grown extremists, in my experience. we've had a history of home-grown extremists in the united states having pretty extensive ties here in the united states. of course, the ft. hood shooter, nadal hassan. the basic profile of these two is not really inconsistent with what we've seen. and to your point about the internet, almost every home-grown al qaeda-inspired extremist that we've seen in the united states over the past five
10:11 pm
to six years has really been affected quite significantly by english-speaking extremist preachers on line. the most notable one is anwar lochi, but there are others in the world. and learning how to build the bombs, kind of being attractive to this virulent idealogy which so skews islam is relatively common. and i think magazines put out by organizations like al qaeda and the arabian peninsula, a magazine known as "inspire" and other places you can learn to make these bombs, this is the path that other extremists have taken and we've seen it again, i guess. >> and another element added to the mix was the american invasion of afghanistan and then iraq. >> right. and we also learned that the older brother was a devotee to the wars. so you have them buying into
10:12 pm
conspiracy theories. 9/11 was in the mix. so it's really not stuff just put out by terrorism overseas, it was also right here in the u.s. so it was a pretty scary combination. >> michael, at different points in our involvement in afghanistan and iraq, there have been concerns raised in congress ask raised by some observers, to what extent is what we're doing creating or provoking terrorism versus suppressing terrorism. what is your reaction to that calculation of suppress versus provoke in what we're looking at in this case? >> lawrence, you're absolutely right. this has been raised for a long time. the first person who raised this was secretary donald rumsfeld who asked in a famous memo, are we killing more terrorists than
10:13 pm
we're creating? from my perspective, having looked at radicalization and trying to counter the message, the wars in iraq and afghanistan are very, very commonly invocced in al qaeda and al qaeda-inspired propaganda to try to recruit other individuals to the cause. although that is undoubtedly true, i have to say i think it is difficult to really connect any one individual with these conflicts. there is no doubt, again, pictures, video of civilians being killed and the like, this is exactly what al qaeda uses to help radicalize and bring people into the idealogical fold. but again, i think just pointing to iraq or afghanistan is a little bit too simplistic, because generally these radicalization cases come from a really dynamic mix of factors. >> and joy, the pause that i would put over all of this is, this all depends on you
10:14 pm
believing this suspect in this hospital bed, and i for one am going to reserve judgment on everything he's saying. >> yeah, and it's in his interest to say that it was the older brother, that it was the now deceased suspect who now cannot counter any of his claims. it is very much in his interest as a legal matter to say that he was following what the older brother was doing. so i think, yeah, we have to definitely take what he's saying on that into account. >> joy reid and alec lighter, thank you for joining me tonight. >> thank you. now to a marine who lost his leg in afghanistan is helping with the boston bombers. he's live with what they can expect in recovery. the sequester budget cuts are not just causing flight delays. now that air traffic controllers are being told to stay home, i wonder what assistant district attorneys are being told to take a day off?
10:15 pm
but i wondered what a customer thought? describe the first time you met. you brought the flex in... as soon as i met fiona and i was describing the problem we were having with our rear brakes, she immediately triaged the situation, knew exactly what was wrong with it, the car was diagnosed properly, it was fixed correctly i have confidence knowing that if i take to ford it's going to be done correctly with the right parts and the right people. get a free brake inspection and brake pads installed for just 49.95 after rebates when you use the ford service credit card. did you tell him to say all of that? no,
10:16 pm
we didn't have u-verse back in my day. you couldn't just... guys... there you are. you know you couldn't just pause a show in one room, then... where was i... you couldn't pause a show in one room then start playing it in another. and...i'm talking to myself... [ male announcer ] call to get u-verse tv for just $19 a month for 2 years with qualifying bundles. rethink possible.
10:17 pm
prosecutors are expected to file charges this week against dzhokhar tsarnaev for the murder of 26-year-old m.i.t. police officer shawn collier. shawn collier's funeral was held today at st. patrick's church in stoneham, massachusetts. tomorrow m.i.t. will have a memorial service for officer collier. it will be open to the m.i.t. community but closed to the public. vice president joe biden is expected to attend. no family suffered more in the boston bombing than the richard family of dorchester. 7-year-old jane richard lost a leg. her mother denise suffered a head injury, and her eight-year-old brother, martin, was the youngest person to die in the bombing. the richard family released this statement. the outpouring of love and support over the last week has been tremendous.
10:18 pm
this has been the most difficult week of our lives, and we appreciate that our friends and family have given us space to grieve and heal. a private funeral mass was celebrated this morning with immediate family. we laid our son martin to rest, and he is now at peace. we plan to have a public memorial service in the coming weeks to allow friends and loved ones from our community to join us for a celebration of martin's life. [ kate ] many women may not be absorbing the calcium they take
10:19 pm
as well as they could because they don't take it with food. switch to citracal maximum plus d. it's the only calcium supplement that can be taken with or without food. my doctor recommends citracal maximum. it's all about absorption.
10:20 pm
still very groggy from anesthesia and before he really knew he was a double amputee as a result of the boston marathon bombing, 24-year-old jeffrey bauman who had been waiting at the finish line to cheer on his girlfriend wrote on a piece of paper bag, saw the guy. looked right at me. and with that the fbi knew they had a witness who could identify one of the bombers. today jeff bauman visited 18-year-old sidney corcoran at boston medical center. sidney was hit by nearly fatal shrapnel and celebrated her birthday today in a hospital bed beside her mother's hospital bed. her mother celeste lost both of her legs below the knee. joining me now, captain cameron
10:21 pm
west who visited sidney and her mother. captain, tell me what you had to tell these victims of the boston bombing? >> yes, sir, mr. o'donnell. number one, it's an honor to be here in support of those that were injured, and to tell you, we went up to boston to try to motivate and show those that were injured a little bit of what they might experience in the next couple months and year with their amputation. and in turn we actually were motivated by these people of all ages, and that is what compelled us to get up there, and we were actually the ones that, you know, got that out of the visit. >> and so you as a marine were injured in combat and you suffered amputation yourself, didn't you? >> yes, sir. at the end of 2010, foot patrol
10:22 pm
, i was leading my platoon through the sangan valley, and we hit an ied. my injuries were amputation right above the knee and extreme damage to my right forearm and hand and loss of vision in my right eye. >> captain, your vision -- experience fascinates me, because i had a friend who was a combat veteran and lost a leg, and i invited him to talk about how life goes on. he can dance and ski and so many things. let's take a look at the video of you visiting the hospital. >> obviously she got her pretty looks from you, huh? great to see you. you look good. >> thank you.
10:23 pm
>> you look real good. >> thank you. >> this doesn't matter. this is just a change of scenery. it really is. gabe here, he's moving and running, he's doing the pair olympics. you may want to do that someday. >> my sister did her first boston marathon this marathon. i've lived in this area my whole life. i've always watched the marathon. i've never actually come to the marathon to watch it. and i was so proud of her. she wasn't, you know, a born runner like some people are. she worked so hard to do it, and i was so proud to be there to cheer her on. and she, you know, was coming around to boyleston street. she didn't actually get to finish the race because of the bomb and everything. and so after -- was it matthew? her 11-year-old son said, mom, are you going to run the race
10:24 pm
again next year? and she said, yes, and then she was telling me the story. i always joked around like i'm not super athletic. i like to work out and stuff, but running has never been my thing because i always get the most horrible shin splints. so i was like, hey, i don't have shins anymore. i can do this. >> that's a good attitude right there. >> captain west, you know that they can have complete lives ahead of them, but sitting there in those hospital beds today, i golt to say, i would have -- if i was in one of those beds, i would have trouble believing you. >> yes, sir. and it's totally understandable. it's just the human factor of the whole situation. i mean, two years ago i was in their position, you know, and i thought that i wouldn't be able to be who i wanted to be, you know, later if life or right here in the present.
10:25 pm
and that's not the case at all. with technology, support system and just drive and determination, i've actually done more in the past two years than i've done, you know, in my entire life just, you know, being in activities, skiing, snowboarding, climbing mountains. anything that's unimaginable is definitely doable. and that's what we're trying to do to these victims that had a great loss of a leg or both legs, is just to show them that, hey, in a year, two years from now, you're going to be up running and gunning just like we are, and you're going to be where we are, and you're going to be supporting somebody that just had a life-changing experience, and you're going to be their inspiration. like i said, when we went there to be the inspiration, we got more out of the trip than we could have ever given any of those that were injured. >> i'm sure you did. marine captain cameron west, thank you very much for joining me tonight, but more importantly, thank you very much for going to boston and telling them your story. >> it's my honor. >> thank you.
10:26 pm
>> thank you. coming up, the sequester cuts are finally hitting home, and if you think it's bad for air travel, wait until you hear what the director of national intelligence says it will do to intelligence gathering. . [fight bell: ding, ding] what's your preferred search engine? search engine, uhh, probably google. if we do a side by side blind test comparison, and you end up choosing google, you get an xbox. i'll bet you the xbox, you bet me your son. well let's look up what you need. okay, i would do the left. yeah? what?! i am a daddy! bing wins it! bing won. bing did win. people prefer bing over google for the web's top searches. don't believe it? go to bingiton.com and see what you're missing. ♪ [ snoring ] [ male announcer ] zzzquil™ sleep-aid. [ both snoring ] [ male announcer ] it's not for colds. it's not for pain. it's just for sleep. [ snoring ]
10:27 pm
[ male announcer ] because sleep is a beautiful thing™. ♪ zzzquil™. the non-habit forming sleep-aid from the makers of nyquil®. ♪ governor of getting it done. you know how to dance... with a deadline. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle... and go. you can even take a full-size or above, and still pay the mid-size price. this is awesome. [ male announcer ] yes, it is, business pro. yes, it is. go national. go like a pro.
10:28 pm
10:29 pm
10:30 pm
let me now be blunt for you and for the american people. sequestration forces the intelligence community to reduce all intelligence activities and functions without regard to impact on our mission. in my considered judgment, as the nation's senior intelligence officer, sequestration jeopardizes our nation's safety ask security, and this jeopardy will increase over time. >> that was national intelligence director james clapper last week warning the senate arms committee what the sequester could do to national security. in the spotlight tonight, sequestration budget cuts hit home. air travelers have faced long delays this week due to faa budget cuts that have reduced the number of air traffic controllers available for work. and as the fbi searched for the bomber suspects last week, national intelligence director james clapper was on capitol hill explaining how nearly $4
10:31 pm
billion in cuts to the intelligence community could affect the nation's security. >> unlike more directly observable sequestration impacts like shorter lines to the parks and longer waits at the airport will be gradual and almost invisible until, of course, we have an intelligence failure. >> independent senator ang us king summed it up this way. >> we won't know what we've missed until something blows up. >> yes, sir. >> joining me now, one of the senators at that armed services committee hearing, senator richard blumenthal and the huffington post. we couldn't get an answer given air traffic controllers were told to stay home. are fbi agents going to be told to stay home? are u.s. assistant attorneys going to be told to stay home at some point? can you guide us in that?
10:32 pm
>> in his remarks, lawrence, director clapper made remarks about intelligence agents that may be given shorter hours or even furloughs, and the same, conceivably, very probably is true of prosecutors and fbi agents, although we have no confirmation of it. obviously, these impacts are the least visible. the most visible are the impacts on air travel. 4700 delays and 273 cancellations today alone, and then the less visible impacts on health care and headstart, meals on wheels for seniors, other kinds of service programs, including research for cancer, in effect, undermining what we can discover and cure for the future. >> it seems like nothing has gotten washington's attention to these sequester cuts more than what we're seeing in the air traffic story these days. >> well, before that, keep in mind there was the white house
10:33 pm
story which was a problem because it was in washington. the delta shuttle, the inconvenience in the delta shuttle line has also gotten washington's attention. and the impacts of sequestration have been felt far beyond the northeast corridor. headstart programs are taking kids off. private cancer clinics are stopping treating patients because they don't have the funds to do it. it's too expensive. military tuition has been denied in certain places. one of my particular favorite ones was a government auditing agency that helped save the government billions of dollars over the course of several years was forced to shut down its offices because of sequestration. we actually pulled the money away from an agency that helped us save money. these cuts are very blunt. they were designed to be blunt and discriminate because everyone thought they would be replaced. >> i want to hear what the senate house committee had to say a month ago about these cuts.
10:34 pm
>> sequestration would reduce the bureau's budget by $550 million for the remainder of this fiscal year. because 50% of the fbi's budget pays for personnel, and the personnel are our resources, they are the fbi, we have planned for the possibility of furloughs, and any furlough would pose a risk to fbi operations, in particular, in the areas of counterterrorism and cyber. >> senator blumenthal, what more could congress ask for in terms of a warning about what these cuts are doing? >> the question now, lawrence, is what congress will do about it. we proposed today that the sequester, the self-inflicted wound a very serious one, be avoided through a plan to use what is called the overseas contingency operation account, which is money that's been budgeted for an afghanistan war five years and more out that
10:35 pm
will simply not be used. the republicans counted that money as savings in their budget, the ryan budget, and we're saying let's take about 140 billion of approximately 600 billion that can be saved and avoid the sequester for the next five months. those absolutely chilling consequences not only to our intelligence operation but also to military readiness and the human impacts. and by the way, air travel is not just a luxury for a lot of people, it involves local economic development, it involves business costs and it's like having a blizzard every day where air travel is stymied and stopped, so we really need to avoid these absolutely indiscriminate across the board cuts. >> but the house of representatives in particular, what's your sense of their ability to gather and do
10:36 pm
something about this? >> my sense is that there is very little willingness or ability to do anything about it. it all comes down to how you design a package to replace what is $85 billion in cuts for the
10:37 pm
>> well, sir, it would be nice if they would get a pay raise occasionally, and it would be nice not to be threatened with furloughs. >> i take that to heart and to mind. >> senator, you raised such a very important, long-term question. people thinking about going into this line of work, a young law school graduate, perhaps, thinking i'd like to go into the fbi. today with furloughs and with sequester cuts, you have to wonder whether you'll be able to make your mortgage payments. >> it really is a profoundly significant question, lawrence, and i'm so glad that you've raised it, because we really need the best and the brightest to go into public service,
10:38 pm
whether it's the intelligence community or our military or our men and women in uniform are demoralized by the threats of sequester and lack of pay and support. and the military health care insurance program is threatened to the tune of about $3 billion, as are chairman of the joint chiefs of staff general dempsey warned in a hearing just about the same time as general clapper. so the ripple effects for our entire economy, our social and political fabric are profound and far-reaching, and that's why, as has been just observed, the kind of gridlock that we see is so destructive. and by the way, you know, there were 52 votes, democratic votes, for an alternative back on february 28 that would have involved smart targeted cuts in certain areas of defense as well as the buffett rule millionaire
10:39 pm
tax and cuts in the farm subsidy program. there are ways to raise revenue that simply close loopholes without raising taxes, and we need to break that law again. >> senator richard blumenthal in connecticut and sam, thanks for being with us. how someone wrote for gun purchases and later shamed himself. and the president's dinner with the senators. tonight it's the women senators. i should be arrested for crimes against potted plant kind. [ clang ] my house is where plants came to die. but, it turns out all i was missing was miracle-gro potting mix.
10:40 pm
it's got what a plant needs like miracle-gro plant food that feeds them for up to six months. you get bigger, healthier plants, guaranteed. who's got two green thumbs thanks to miracle-gro? ah, this gal. boom! with the right soil, everyone grows with miracle-gro. when the doctor told me that i could smoke for the first week... i'm like...yeah, ok... little did i know that one week later i wasn't smoking. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix (varenicline) is proven to help people quit smoking. it reduces the urge to smoke. some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. if you notice any of these stop taking chantix and call your doctor right away. tell your doctor about any history of depression or other mental health problems, which could get worse while taking chantix. don't take chantix if you've had a serious allergic or skin reaction to it. if you develop these stop taking chantix and see your doctor right away as some can be life-threatening.
10:41 pm
tell your doctor if you have a history of heart or blood vessel problems, or if you develop new or worse symptoms. get medical help right away if you have symptoms of a heart attack or stroke. use caution when driving or operating machinery. common side effects include nausea, trouble sleeping and unusual dreams. people around you...they say, you're much bigger than this. and you are. [ male announcer ] ask your doctor if chantix is right for you. mr. wiggles and curling irons. for the little mishaps you feel, use neosporin to help you heal. it kills germs so you heal four days faster
10:42 pm
neosporin. also try neosporin eczema essentials. would absolutely not have taken a zip line in the jungle. i'm really glad that girl stayed at home. vo: expedia helps 30 million travelers a month find what they're looking for. one traveler at a time. expedia. find yours. the president and first lady's visits to boston hospitals last thursday after the interfaith service in the cathedral were off limits to the media but personal photos were bound to come out. here's one of heather abbott and the first lady in the women's hospital. heather lost her left foot in the second explosion. [ male announcer ] you know that guy that owns that aquarium store. he's not gonna sell you some labradoodle, he's gonna sell you tropical fish! he's got salt water tanks, fresh water tanks,
10:43 pm
brackish tanks, tanks you can't even fathom. that fish?! no you're not ready for that fish. precision aquatic manipulation. he boils his water perfectly for his velveeta shells & cheese. advantage. this guy. liquid gold. eat like that guy you know. where does goddess begin? it begins with your skin... revealed by venus
10:44 pm
for a confident glow the whole world will notice. venus & olay -- gently exfoliates with 5 blades. plus olay moisture bars help lock in moisture for less dryness. only from venus & olay. any venus cartridge fits any venus handle. that's the beauty of venus. days in the senate where the
10:45 pm
rule was written a 60% rule. in order to actually passed the measure required 60 votes. never mind that 90% of america supported the acquired 60 votes. the two most cow ardly votes cast on this one were from a democrat and a republican. senator max baucus in montana voted no, and everyone assumed
10:46 pm
he did so to protect himself in his reelection campaign next year, but he announced today he is want running for reelection. he knew that last week. senator baucus didn't wake up this morning and suddenly decide he wasn't running. that's not the way senators make the decision not to run, and that is not the way max baucus makes decisions. he is a careful, calculating and very, very slow decider. so when he cast that cowardly vote last week, he knew he wasn't running for reelection. and in the process, he betrayed the junior senator from montana, john tester, a democrat who cast the politically brave vote for a montana senator and voted yes. what john tester needed that day was political cover from max baucus, a little help. john tester needed to be able to
10:47 pm
say, when he went back to montana, hey, max voted for it, too. now, when senator tester goes back to montana, he's going to be challenged with, hey, baucus voted against it, why didn't you? the junior senator from arizona got exactly the kind of political cover that john tester would have appreciated from max baucus. the senior senator from arizona, john mccain, voted for expanding background checks. but that wasn't enough to pump up jeff flake's courage to do the right thing. senator flake, who has to explain his vote to the very same voters john mccain is accountable to followed the lead of his party instead of his senior senator and voted against background checks, something that 90% of america wanted. and in casting his vote, senator flake had to rewrite himself.
10:48 pm
karen teves wrote a letter to senator flake asking him to support gun safety legislation. she told the senator about her son alex, who was murdered while shielding his girlfriend from bullets in that aurora, colorado movie theater where 12 people were murdered and 58 were wounded. senator flake wrote a handwritten letter to the grieving mother. here it is. he begins by apologizing for the fact that she received a form letter from his office in response to what he calls "her heartfelt note." he says, i regret you received an impersonal response to such personal words. i regret your deep loss. while we may not agree on every solution, strengthening background checks is something we agree on. your family will be in my
10:49 pm
thoughts and prayers. thank you for your note, kind regards, jeff flake. so this freshman republican hand-writes a letter, telling a grieving mother that strengthening background checks is something we agree on. and then he walks into the senate chamber and raises his hand to vote against strengthening background checks. even though he had political cover from the senior senator from arizona, who was voting for background checks. freshman senator jeff flake rewrote himself on the spot and voted against background checks. he rewrote this letter on the spot. he voted against karen teves. he voted against the family that he said in his letter, quote, will be in my thoughts and
10:50 pm
prayers. now, i've seen senators do a lot of cowardly things, hypocritical things, but i have never seen anything like this. i've never seen anything like this letter and that vote. ♪ using supercomputing and mobile technology over our secure network, verizon innovators are building a world of medical treatment data in the cloud. so doctors can make a more informed diagnosis from anywhere, in seconds rather than months. because the world's biggest challenges deserve even bigger solutions. powerful answers. verizon. constipated? yeah. mm. some laxatives like dulcolax can cause cramps. but phillips' caplets don't. they have magnesium.
10:51 pm
for effective relief of occasional constipation. thanks. [ phillips' lady ] live the regular life. phillips'. [ beeping ] ♪ [ male announcer ] we don't just certify our pre-owned vehicles. we inspect, analyze and recondition each one, until it's nothing short of a genuine certified pre-owned... mercedes-benz for the next new owner. ♪ hurry in to your authorized mercedes-benz dealer for 1.99% financing during our certified pre-owned sales event through april 30th. at a hertz expressrent kiosk, you can rent a car without a reservation... and without a line. now that's a fast car. it's just another way you'll be traveling at the speed of hertz. $20 million. that's how much money one fund in boston has raised for the
10:52 pm
victims of the boston bombing since the fund was started last week. $5 million came through on-line donations. the fund is also accepting donations by check through the mail. a lot of people have been wondering about this who cannot contribute on line, so we're putting up on screen now the address for contributing by check through the mail. there it is, 800 boyleston street. boyleston street happens to be the street the bombing actually occurred on. boston, massachusetts 02199. up next, we actually have some breaking news out of the president's dinner tonight with women senators. it's coming up. [ male announcer ] if you can clear a crowd but not your nasal congestion,
10:53 pm
you may be muddling through allergies.
10:54 pm
try zyrtec-d®. powerful relief of nasal congestion and other allergy symptoms -- all in one pill. zyrtec-d®. at the pharmacy counter. omnipotent of opportunity. you know how to mix business... with business. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle. and go. you can even take a full-size or above. and still pay the mid-size price. i could get used to this. [ male announcer ] yes, you could business pro. yes, you could. go national. go like a pro. yes, you could. tired, achy feet we've got your number. i stepped on the machine, and it showed me the pressure points on my feet and exactly where i needed more support. then, i got my number. i tried the free dr.scholl's foot mapping center. in two minutes, i got my foot map and custom number. just step on, and over 2000 sensors measure your foot length, arch type and pressure points to create your own personal foot map. go to drscholls.com/footmap
10:55 pm
or text feet to 467467 to find a foot mapping center near you. my number is 330, and i found my dr.scholl's custom fit orthotic inserts right there on the machine. they had just the cushioning and support i need. each insert is designed with three layers to add custom comfort, cushion your pressure points and support your arches. and there's a money-back guarantee. i am a believer. i'm a believer! i'm a believer. find a free foot mapping center near you now. go to drscholls.com/footmap or text feet to 467467 and learn how to save $10 on your orthotics. because life starts with your feet. tonight president obama do i understand -- dined at the white house with one-fifth of the
10:56 pm
united states senate, 20 of the women senators. the mayor in hawaii tweeted this picture of the dinner. ann politico is reporting tonight that president obama pushed for the women in the senate to play a key role in a big budget compromise. president obama acknowledged that historically the ones who have been able to get things done are female lawmakers, democratic senator amy klobishar said. dinner plans came about in a conversation between president obama and democratic senator kirsten jillebrand. >> i said, you know, now that you're starting your new term, if you want to create a bipartisan agenda, a great place to start is with the women senators. we have a meeting every quarter, and often women cross senate lines. he said, that's a great idea. instead of going to one of your
10:57 pm
dinners, i'll have you come to the white house. >> women senators really are the only bipartisan regular talking to each other group in america. >> more reason women should just run america, case closed. senator jill happens to be a friend. women are more collaborative in their leadership style, so they talk about how should we get this done, maybe we should do it this way. this is how it's supposed to be. it's how are we going to move the ball forward. so it makes sense he would, a, call upon the women, but b, call on them to push the budget because i doubt we would have had the fiscal cliff crisis if women had been running things. >> we talked about the sequester thing, what that might be doing to the faa, the fbi, so the solution to that is some big budget deal.
10:58 pm
let's listen to what senator susan collins had to say today about the faa crisis before going to dinner with the president. >> it is also a manufactured crisis that this administration has the authority working with congress to prevent. >> i agree with senator collins. this is a manufactured crisis, but i would add to the words phoney and contrived to that description. >> it smells and smells of politics. there clearly is an agenda here which i think the american people are paying the price for. >> i wonder how the manufactured crisis discussion went up there tonight. >> you know, obviously she had to do the talking points when in front of the cameras with the fellows, right, but the tone of these dinners traditionally, from what i understand, has been very collegial and more what you would expect. >> so the senator women are just always rolling their eyes with the guys they have to deal with?
10:59 pm
>> i heard them say sometime, you know, sometimes we just have to get away from the testosterone. we just have to get away from the fellows to get something done. >> this really could be -- over all the years, the different things happened, the gang of eight and these different crews get together of senators who think they're like-minded. but this continued bipartisan discussion that women are having in the senate is such a fascinating opportunity for the president. >> it really is. also remember you've got women in leadership positions in the senate. you've got patty murray. they're not just there -- >> they used to be junior. now they're up in real chairmanships. >> what would be wonderful is if we could see some of that in the house, because maybe the women in the house -- >> which house? the house of representatives? >> the house of representatives. oh, karen finney.